Archive email in Gmail

January 6th, 2012

First remember to enable IMAP in Gmail.

You need to use DeleteMessageByUID method. Messages will be still available in All Mail folder.

// C#

using(Imap imap = new Imap())
{
	imap.ConnectSSL("imap.gmail.com");
	imap.Login("user", "password");

	// Find all emails we want to delete
	imap.SelectInbox();
	List<long> uids = imap.Search(
		Expression.Subject("email to archive"));

	imap.DeleteMessageByUID(uids);

	imap.Close();
}
' VB.NET

Using imap As New Imap()
	imap.ConnectSSL("imap.gmail.com")
	imap.Login("user@gmail.com", "password")

	' Find all emails we want to delete
	imap.SelectInbox()
	Dim uids As List(Of Long) = imap.Search(_
		Expression.Subject("email to archive"))

	imap.DeleteMessageByUID(uids)

	imap.Close()
End Using

Enable POP3 in Gmail

January 6th, 2012

To enable POP3 in Gmail:

  1. Sign in to Gmail.
  2. Click the gear icon in the upper-right and select Mail settings .
  3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
  4. SSelect Enable POP for all mail or Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on.
  5. Now you are able to connect to your Gmail account with Mail.dll POP3 library.

Remember that Gmail only allows secure SSL connections so we need to use ConnectSSL method.

Enable IMAP in Gmail

January 6th, 2012

To enable IMAP in Gmail:

  1. Sign in to Gmail.
  2. Click the gear icon in the upper-right and select Mail settings .
  3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
  4. Select Enable IMAP.
  5. Now you are able to connect to your Gmail account with Mail.dll IMAP library.

Remember that Gmail only allows secure SSL connections so we need to use ConnectSSL method.

Send iCalendar meeting requests for different timezone

January 1st, 2012

Usually you define time of an event in relation to UTC time zone.

If you need to define event on 9:00 o’clock in Alaska you simply need
to subtract 9 hours from event time to get the event time in UTC
(18:00:00). 18 – 9 = 9.

It all works great in December (Alaska is UTC-9), but in May, daylight
saving time is in effect in Alaska (Alaska is UTC-8 then).

If the event is recurring, in May, event is going to be held on 10:00
Alaska time (18 – 8 = 10). Which is most likely not what you want.

As the time zones in different parts of world change way to often to reflect these changes in Mail.dll,
you’ll need to specify the time zone when creating new event (including the daylight savings time).

Here’s the sample:

// C#
using Fluent = Lesnikowski.Mail.Fluent;
using Lesnikowski.Client;
using Lesnikowski.Mail;
using Lesnikowski.Mail.Appointments;

Appointment appointment = new Appointment();

// Create time zone
VTimeZone alaska = appointment.AddTimeZone();
alaska.TimeZoneId = "America/Anchorage";

// Define standard time offset
var standardRecurring = new RecurringRule();
standardRecurring.Frequency = Frequency.Yearly;
standardRecurring.ByDay.Add(Weekday.Sunday);
standardRecurring.ByMonths.Add(11);

var standard = new StandardOffset
{
    Name = "AKST",
    Start = new DateTime(1970, 11, 01, 02, 00, 00),
    OffsetFrom = TimeSpan.FromHours(-8),
    OffsetTo = TimeSpan.FromHours(-9),
    RecurringRule = standardRecurring
};

// Define daylight time offset
var daylightRecurring = new RecurringRule();
daylightRecurring.Frequency = Frequency.Yearly;
daylightRecurring.ByDay.Add(new Weekday(2, Weekday.Sunday));
daylightRecurring.ByMonths.Add(3);

var daylight = new DaylightOffset
{
    Name = "AKDT",
    Start = new DateTime(1970, 03, 08, 02, 00, 00),
    OffsetFrom = TimeSpan.FromHours(-9),
    OffsetTo = TimeSpan.FromHours(-8),
    RecurringRule = daylightRecurring
};

alaska.Standard.Add(standard);
alaska.Daylight.Add(daylight);

// Define event
Event e = appointment.AddEvent();
e.Start = new DateTime(2007, 08, 17, 12, 00, 00);
e.End = new DateTime(2007, 08, 17, 12, 30, 00);
e.Summary = "At noon in Alaska";
e.InTimeZone(alaska);

e.SetOrganizer(new Person("Alice", "alice@example.org"));

e.AddParticipant(new Participant(
    "Bob", "bob@example.org", ParticipationRole.Required, true));
e.AddParticipant(new Participant(
    "Tom", "tom@example.org", ParticipationRole.Optional, true));
e.AddParticipant(new Participant(
    "Alice", "alice@example.org", ParticipationRole.Required, true));

Alarm alarm = e.AddAlarm();
alarm.BeforeStart(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(15));

IMail email = Fluent.Mail
    .Text("Status meeting at noon in Alaska.")
    .Subject("Status meeting")
    .From("alice@example.org")
    .To("bob@example.org")
    .To("tom@example.org")
    .AddAppointment(appointment)
    .Create();

using (Smtp smtp = new Smtp())
{
    smtp.Connect("smtp.example.org"); // or ConnectSSL
    smtp.Login("user", "password");
    smtp.SendMessage(email);
    smtp.Close();
}
' VB.NET
Imports Fluent = Lesnikowski.Mail.Fluent
Imports Lesnikowski.Client
Imports Lesnikowski.Mail
Imports Lesnikowski.Mail.Appointments

Dim appointment As New Appointment()

' Create time zone
Dim alaska As VTimeZone = appointment.AddTimeZone()
alaska.TimeZoneId = "America/Anchorage"

' Define standard time offset
Dim standardRecurring = New RecurringRule()
standardRecurring.Frequency = Frequency.Yearly
standardRecurring.ByDay.Add(Weekday.Sunday)
standardRecurring.ByMonths.Add(11)

Dim standard = New StandardOffset() With { _
	.Name = "AKST", _
	.Start = New DateTime(1970, 11, 1, 2, 0, 0), _
	.OffsetFrom = TimeSpan.FromHours(-8), _
	.OffsetTo = TimeSpan.FromHours(-9), _
	.RecurringRule = standardRecurring _
}

' Define daylight time offset
Dim daylightRecurring = New RecurringRule()
daylightRecurring.Frequency = Frequency.Yearly
daylightRecurring.ByDay.Add(New Weekday(2, Weekday.Sunday))
daylightRecurring.ByMonths.Add(3)

Dim daylight = New DaylightOffset() With { _
	.Name = "AKDT", _
	.Start = New DateTime(1970, 3, 8, 2, 0, 0), _
	.OffsetFrom = TimeSpan.FromHours(-9), _
	.OffsetTo = TimeSpan.FromHours(-8), _
	.RecurringRule = daylightRecurring _
}

alaska.Standard.Add(standard)
alaska.Daylight.Add(daylight)

' Define event
Dim e As [Event] = appointment.AddEvent()
e.Start = New DateTime(2007, 8, 17, 12, 0, 0)
e.[End] = New DateTime(2007, 8, 17, 12, 30, 0)
e.Summary = "At noon in Alaska"
e.InTimeZone(alaska)

e.SetOrganizer(New Person("Alice", "alice@example.org"))

e.AddParticipant(New Participant( _
	"Bob", "bob@example.org", ParticipationRole.Required, True))
e.AddParticipant(New Participant( _
	"Tom", "tom@example.org", ParticipationRole.[Optional], True))
e.AddParticipant(New Participant( _
	"Alice", "alice@example.org", ParticipationRole.Required, True))

Dim alarm As Alarm = e.AddAlarm()
alarm.BeforeStart(TimeSpan.FromMinutes(15))

Dim email As IMail = Fluent.Mail _
	.Text("Status meeting at noon in Alaska.") _
	.Subject("Status meeting") _
	.From("alice@example.org") _
	.[To]("bob@example.org") _
	.[To]("tom@example.org") _
	.AddAppointment(appointment) _
	.Create()

Using smtp As New Smtp()
	smtp.Connect("smtp.example.org") 	' or ConnectSSL
	smtp.Login("user", "password")
	smtp.SendMessage(email)
	smtp.Close()
End Using

Reply to an email

December 28th, 2011

You can use Mail.dll to reply to an HTML or plain-text email.

ReplyBuilder class allows you to specify custom HTML and plain-text templates for the reply. Mail.dll will parse HTML extract body part, and build-in template engine will do the rest.

The next great thing is that plain-text version of the email is generated automatically.

// C#

IMail original = ...;

ReplyBuilder replyBuilder = original.Reply();
// You can specify your own custom template:
replyBuilder.HtmlReplyTemplate =
    "[Html]" +
    "<br /><br />" +
    "On [Original.Date] [Original.Sender.Name] wrote:" +
    "<blockquote " +
        "style='margin-left: 1em; " +
        "padding-left: 1em; " +
        "border-left: 1px #ccc solid;'>" +
    "[QuoteHtml]" +
    "</blockquote>";

replyBuilder.Html =
    "Alice, <br/><br/>thanks for your email.";

MailBuilder builder = replyBuilder.ReplyToAll(
    new MailBox("bob@example.org", "Bob"));

// You can add attachments to your reply
//builder.AddAttachment("report.csv");

IMail reply = builder.Create();

using (Smtp smtp = new Smtp())
{
    smtp.Connect("smtp.example.com"); // or ConnectSSL
    smtp.Login("user", "password");
    smtp.SendMessage(reply);
    smtp.Close();
}
' VB.NET

Dim original As IMail = ...

Dim replyBuilder As ReplyBuilder = original.Reply()

' You can specify your own custom template:
replyBuilder.HtmlReplyTemplate = _
    "[Html]" + _
    "<br /><br />" + _
    "On [Original.Date] [Original.Sender.Name] wrote:" + _
    "<blockquote " + _
        "style='margin-left: 1em; " + _
        "padding-left: 1em; " + _
        "border-left: 1px #ccc solid;'>" + _
    "[QuoteHtml]" + _
    "</blockquote>"

replyBuilder.Html = _
    "Alice, <br/><br/>thanks for your email."

Dim builder As MailBuilder = replyBuilder.ReplyToAll( _
    New MailBox("bob@example.org", "Bob"))

' You can add attachments to your reply
'builder.AddAttachment("report.csv")

Dim reply As IMail = builder.Create()

Using smtp As New Smtp()
	smtp.Connect("smtp.example.com")
	smtp.Login("user", "password") ' or ConnectSSL
	smtp.SendMessage(reply)
	smtp.Close()
End Using